KIRKSVILLE - Kirksville coach Jeff Jacques said that the Tigers will face a team like them Friday night when they visit Trenton at C.F. Russell Stadium.
Both the Tigers and Bulldogs sport the same record (3-4) with Kirksville snapping a four-game losing streak with a 22-14 win at Mexico last week. Trenton fell to Illini West of Carthage, Ill., 48-0.
Jacques said not to judge Trenton by its record.
"[Trenton's] record is deceiving," he said. "They've played a tough schedule like we have. They're looking at this game as a chance to get to the .500 mark like we are."
The Bulldogs beat Carrollton (18-14), Putnam County (56-18) and Lincoln College Prep (56-16). They've lost to Lexington (21-14), Lafayette County (42-14) and Pembroke Hill (39-7).
Trenton coach Wes Croy said it has been an up-and-down season for his team.
"Three teams that we have lost to [Lafayette County, Pembroke Hill, Illini West] have combined for just two losses all season," he said. "The Lexington game was one that got away from us."
Croy said the problem for his team has struggled with a lack of size up front.
"We have trouble when we get out-physicaled up front," he said.
Croy likes that he has in his skill players. Wide receiver Colby Larson has 25 receptions on the season for 400 yards and running backs Austin Taul and Dillon Triplet have over 500 yards each. Stopping Taul is a major concern to Jacques.
"We're going to have our hands full with him," he said. "He has pretty good speed."
Jacques said Trenton tries to keep it simple offensively.
"They run the veer," he said. "They can pass off of it and they also run some misdirection from it."
Kirksville is coming off a solid defensive effort against Mexico. The Tigers allowed the Bulldogs only a kickoff return for a score in the first half and a touchdown with 48 seconds remaining in the game.
Sophomore linebacker Makenna Cook said the Tigers just took care of business, especially on the defensive end, in last week's win.
"I basically concentrated on what the defensive line was doing," Cook said. "It was just a matter of everyone doing their job."
Kirksville coach Jeff Jacques said the defensive line play was outstanding.
"We really controlled the line of scrimmage," he said. "We played our style of football and dictated that to our opponent. Our tackles did a really good job with technique and we created a lot of mismatches up front."
Jacques would like to see more consistency at the offensive end.
"We had 411 total yards against Mexico and only scored 22 points," he said. "We should be more productive than that. We need to eliminate the mental lapses. We still had way too many penalties."